Lot missing in drag race debate

To the editor:

(re: “Solutions intended to curb drag racing progressing slowly,” Nov. 26)

I read with great disappointment your story concerning drag racing in the north Bronx. The story does not adequately describe the problem, and the initiatives being worked on by our local politicians will not resolve it.

First, the story suggests that this is a problem on Independence Avenue alone — it is not. I have observed drag racers on not only Independence Avenue, but on Bailey Avenue and Broadway, as well as on several side streets. If there is a stretch of road that is conducive to speeding, that’s where they will be.

Second, both the story and the proposals put forth by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Community Board 8 traffic and transportation committee chair Dan Padernacht treat this matter as merely a noise problem, and do not address the more significant public safety problem that this drag racing causes.

I have observed the drag racing in the north Bronx on numerous occasions during the last few months. I have seen groups of motorcycles, mopeds and cars speeding through red lights, “popping wheelies,” and acting out their Fast and Furious fantasies as they endanger themselves and everyone else around them, including anyone who happens to be crossing the street at the wrong time.

The speed bumps on Independence Avenue proposed by CB8 won’t stop them — it will only encourage them, because it will make the ride more dangerous. The speed cameras and noise detectors proposed by Assemblyman Dinowitz won’t deter them — it will just result in tickets that will never be paid.

What is absent from the story, where these noise pollution proposals are silent, is also what is missing from the streets — the police department. Where is the police department on our roads? Where are the car stops? Where are the vehicle seizures? Where are the arrests?

Why are the enforcers of Vision Zero so blind to what is occurring right in front of their eyes?

What we need is CB8 and Assemblyman Dinowitz to engage the police, to summon the district attorney, to use their public offices not to propose legislative acts, but to take action — now — before someone gets hurt.

Before someone gets killed. Before it is too late.

Robert Bernard Eisman

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